The minutiae of a fingertip are the ends and bifurcations of the ridges of a fingerprint. A fingerprint verification method using the minutiae characteristics requires a large amount of data and is dependant on the data being reliable. The precise input of the minutiae is a prerequisite for the successful operation of such method, and the verification depends upon the quality of the fingerprint image.
A fingerprint image inputted through a camera or other such device usually does not consist of a total fingerprint, but instead usually consists of a partial image of a fingerprint. End points are therefore generated at the points where ridges are cut by the periphery of the image. Given that such end points are not part of the minutiae, they should be distinguished from the real minutiae characteristics. An established method for performing such distinguishing is not known.
For a fingerprint verification using the minutiae characteristics , the determination of which part of a fingerprint image will be the object for the comparison is an important problem because the choice of the object area will affect the results of the verification. Therefore, in many cases, the center or core of a fingerprint image is adopted as the reference point of the object area. However, the concept of identifying the center point has not yet been refined.